Walk A Thin Line
by FieryFaerie
Summary: Kagome and Kyo have lost so much, but both hope to get a new start in a new place. In the search for their loved ones who have passed away they must work together.[InuyashaFurubaBleach xover][WIP][Won 3rd Place for Best Crossover, IYFG 1st Quarter 2006]
1. Beginnings

**Walk a Thin Line**

**Chapter One: Beginnings**

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha, Fruits Basket, or Bleach. And I'm sure they're glad of that.

---

_Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end._

- Semisonic

---

Sohma Kyo watched as one by one the members of the zodiac were released from the curse, and as one by one they moved on with their lives. Most of them chose to stay at the Sohma compound, as there were bonds between them that went deeper than the curse, but Kyo knew that it was just a matter of time before the younger members of the zodiac grew up and wanted to leave. When Kagura was finally released from the curse, she prepared to leave for college, leaving Kyo as the only Sohma still bound by the curse.

"I'm sure you'll be free soon, Kyo-kun," Kagura said to Kyo's cat form after she'd given him one last goodbye hug, "and then you can move on, like the rest of us."

Kyo shifted in her arms, hoping she'd take the hint and just put him down. The sky was clear and bright, but he felt as though it had been raining constantly for the past few months. When Kagura gripped him even tighter, he breathed deeply, preparing to shout at her, when he heard her sniffle.

"Things will be okay, Kyo-kun, they will, I promise," she said, squeezing the breath right out of Kyo, who could only groan slightly in protest, "You'll be okay, won't you? Time heals all wounds, doesn't it?" Kyo batted at Kagura's face, claws outstretched, and she finally put him down.

"You know I won't be okay, Kagura," Kyo sighed, trying to gather his clothes together, "she's gone, and I wasn't there to save her. You know I can't move on." He sat down on the lawn of Shigure's house and lifted the paw which bore the black and white beaded bracelet that he wore even in his cat form. "Especially when I'm still cursed. You're all free and the curse feels just as strong in me as it always has."

Kyo draped his clothes over his back and headed back into the house. "Goodbye, Kagura," he said, pushing the paper doors closed with a back paw. Kagura opened her mouth as if to say something, but eventually she turned around and headed back to the car that waited for her in the street.

Later that night, when he had finally reverted back to his human form, Kyo quickly gathered his few meager belongings together. He paused for a moment to wipe a smudge off of the glass of the photograph he tucked in with his other possessions.

"I promise, Tohru," he said, wrapping a t-shirt around the frame to keep it from breaking, "we'll see each other again, somehow."

Thunder rumbled in the distance as Kyo discreetly left the Sohmas, and he prayed that he would find shelter before the skies opened up.

---

Higurashi Kagome grumbled as she was shaken awake by her brother, Souta. She'd fallen asleep in a sea of history books at the library again.

Once Naraku had finally been defeated, and the jewel completed, the well had closed, leaving Kagome alone on her own side of the well. She'd spent the last several months searching nonstop for any sign of what had happened to her friends from the feudal era, but she hadn't been able to find any trace of any of them.

"Kagome?" Souta said, shaking Kagome's arm one last time, "Kagome, you've been here for hours. Uncle Ryuuken will be here to pick you up in about twenty minutes, you've gotta get home to say goodbye to Mama."

After months and months of waiting and searching and hoping and coming up with nothing, Kagome had decided that it was too painful to live at the shrine any longer. Every morning she left the house, passing by Goshinboku, passing by the well house--every morning was a reminder of everything she had lost. Her mother contacted a cousin of Kagome's father, and it was arranged that she would go to live with them, to give her some time to heal without those daily reminders.

After a tearful goodbye, Kagome climbed into her Uncle Ishida Ryuuken's car, a man who she had only met once or twice when she was very young, and headed off to Karakura to start her new life.

"So you're coming to live with us, Higurashi Kagome," Ryuuken said almost coldly, barely nodding his head in Kagome's direction, "I trust you remember my son, Uryuu?" Kagome nodded, remembering the small boy, two years younger than herself, speaking softly and constantly adjusting his glasses. "He will make sure your transition to Karakura High School is a smooth one." Kagome nodded again, effectively ending the conversation.

They were silent for the rest of the drive. Kagome hoped that starting over would be worth it.

---

Kyo took the first bus that he could find, and then walked for several hours before the rain finally started, pouring down in sheets. He'd been feeling weak for the past few months, so the fatigue that usually accompanied a rainy day seemed to be ten times worse than normal. It was all he could do to just drag his overstuffed duffel bag along behind him.

'_This is just pathetic,_' he thought, sitting down on the curb in front of a dark-windowed shop, '_I can barely even walk, and I haven't found anywhere that looks even remotely welcoming. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all._'

He rested his head in his hands, trying to work up the strength to stand again, when he heard a rustle in the alley next to the shop he'd collapsed in front of. With great effort, he was able to lift his head and turn it to see a boy with pointy red hair wielding several large bags of garbage. The boy dropped the bags when he noticed Kyo sitting on the curb.

"Oi, Orange Head, that you?" the boy called. Under normal circumstances, Kyo would have beaten the boy upside the head for making fun of his hair, but he didn't have the energy.

"What?" He said weakly, and promptly passed out, flat on his back. The boy rushed to his side.

"Manager! Ururu!" he called, trying to lift Kyo without much success, "There's some orange-headed guy out here and he doesn't look good!"

Urahara Kisuke flipped on the lamps in the front of his shop, to shed a little light on the situation.

"That Ichigo?" he said, shielding his eyes with his hand to get a closer look, "No. That's not Ichigo. But his reiraku is extremely unusual. Ururu? Will you help Jinta get the boy inside before he catches his death of cold?" The small girl nodded demurely, and ran out into the storm to assist the boy.

As she ran out into the rain, she lost her footing on the slippery sidewalk, and tripped, landing flat on the unconscious boy. There was a loud popping sound and a thick smoke suddenly surrounded the three figures out in the rain. When the smoke finally cleared, Kyo was gone, and a very wet orange cat was in his place. Ururu and Jinta gasped.

"Interesting," Urahara muttered, pulling out his cell phone, "Ururu? Will you bring the cat into the shop? And Jinta, get his bag. This young man is very interesting indeed." The children nodded and followed their manager's orders. Urahara punched a number into his cell phone.

"Yoruichi?" he said with a smile, adjusting the striped hat on his head, "you'd better get down here. I've discovered something you might find very interesting."


	2. Collide

**Walk a Thin Line**

**Chapter Two: Collide**

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha, Fruits Basket, or Bleach. And I'm sure they're glad of that.

---

_There's somewhere beyond this I know  
But I hope I can find the words to say_

-"You're a God" by Vertical Horizon

---

Kyo opened his eyes to find a sleek black cat sitting on his stomach. This was not at all an unusual occurrence, as he was used to being mobbed by cats wherever he went, but there was something not quite right about this particular cat. As he gradually made the journey back to consciousness, he slowly began to realize that what had woken him up in the first place was the cat talking to him.

'_Wait a minute,_' he thought, his brain not quite completely functioning yet, '_Cats can't _talk_. Well…not _normal_ cats anyway._' He had almost succeeded in convincing himself that it had been his imagination when the cat spoke again.

"Boy," the cat said in a deep gravelly voice, "you awake yet?" Kyo sat up quickly, head spinning, as the cat gracefully leaped from his stomach onto the bed.

"You really talked? What are you?" Kyo asked as he realized that he was completely naked underneath the thin blanket, and clutched it closer to him. After a few frantic moments he saw that his clothes had been washed and were neatly folded on a chair placed next to his bed. Grabbing his shirt and quickly pulling it over his head he gazed significantly at the cat, who had yet to speak again.

"My name is Shihouin Yoruichi," the cat finally said, jumping from the bed to the chair while Kyo attempted to dress himself under the covers without exposing himself, "how did you come to be able to transform into a cat, boy?"

"My name is Sohma Kyo," Kyo said angrily, sitting up in the bed and placing his feet on the floor, "and I didn't 'come to be able' to do anything. Who are you?" The cat ignored Kyo's question.

"If you didn't 'come to be able' to transform into a cat, then how is it possible?" Kyo knew that it would be impossible to explain away his transformation, and for a moment he wished that Hatori were nearby to modify the cat's memory. In the present situation, however, he supposed that telling a talking cat about his family's curse wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. Plus it seemed that he had been taken into someone's home, and it would be disrespectful not to at least explain himself.

"I was born this way," he said softly, idly adjusting the beaded bracelet on his right wrist, "my family is cursed." The cat eyed him suspiciously and wordlessly urged him to continue. Kyo went on to explain the basic idea of the Zodiac Curse, describing each of his cousins, their bond with Akito, and how they transformed into their respective animals when weak or embraced by a member of the opposite sex. 

"Interesting," said the cat thoughtfully, after Kyo described the cat's unfortunate role in the family, "and how did you come to Karakura, Sohma Kyo? You're very far from home." Kyo tried to think of some kind of plausible excuse for running away from home, but he figured that he was in deep enough already that he might as well tell the truth.

"The curse has been broken, for the most part. I am the only member of my family who still transforms." Without waiting for the cat to say something, Kyo continued, "See, there was this girl, Tohru. She wasn't part of the curse, but she made herself a part of it, and in the end she meant so much to all of us. She loved us all, and I think that's what broke the curse. Even Akito came to care about her, she was that wonderful. Then…" Kyo paused for a moment and avoided eye contact with the cat, "then, she died, and I should have been able to save her, but I wasn't - I couldn't… It started some sort of chain reaction and one by one, everyone was released until I was the only one left. Without _her_ I couldn't stay there any longer. Everyone else moved on and I couldn't so I left, and now I'm here." There was a moment of silence before the cat finally said something.

"You loved her, didn't you," the cat said softly, placing a paw on Kyo's knee. His silence was answer enough, "I'm sorry." Unused to tender sympathy from anyone but Tohru, Kyo finally realized that he'd just divulged his entire life story to a complete stranger.

"Wait a minute," he said, standing up and heading for the door, "You never told me who you were. And where am I anyway? How can you talk?" The cat smiled.

"As I said before, my name is Shihouin Yoruichi. It seems that we don't have as much in common as I'd thought even though we are both able to transform into cats."

"You mean…" Kyo stuttered, pointing at the cat.

"Yes, I'm a person who just happens to be able to turn into a cat," Yoruichi said with a grin, "although for me it's a much more voluntary thing. It's quite useful actually. Anyway, I suppose it's only fair to show you my true form, now that you've told me so much about yourself." Kyo watched, jaw dropped, as Yoruichi slowly transformed from a small black cat into a tall shapely woman. She was completely naked.

"Gah!" cried Kyo, pointing frantically at her naked form and blushing profusely, "naked! Clothes!" Yoruichi giggled.

"Oh yes, clothes. I keep forgetting. You see, I was in cat form for the better part of the last two hundred years, so after that long, you tend to forget." Kyo covered his eyes and continued grumbling under his breath. "Sorry," Yoruichi smiled, and called for Urahara to bring her some clothes. In the meantime, Kyo awkwardly handed her the blanket from the bed. When she was sufficiently covered, Kyo had time to process what she'd said.

"Wait a minute, you said you'd been in cat form for _two hundred_ years? How old are you?"

"Come now, Kyo," Yoruichi said, shaking a finger in his face, "it's impolite to ask a lady how old she is. Suffice it to say that I am quite a bit older than you and we'll leave it at that."

"But how…" Kyo trailed off as Urahara burst into the room with Yoruichi's signature orange jacket and black catsuit.

"Hello, Orange Head!" Urahara called cheerfully, tossing the clothes to Yoruichi, "Good morning! I trust you slept well, welcome to the Urahara Shop! I see you've gotten to see the lovely Yoruichi in her natural state! What a wonderful way to begin a new morning!" Urahara reached over to pat a horrified Kyo on the shoulder, but the boy deftly maneuvered out of the way.

"Who are you?" Kyo said indignantly, "And how can she be hundreds of years old…what _are_ you people? And don't make fun of my hair! My name is Sohma Kyo."

"Ah, I'm sorry, Sohma Kyo, I haven't properly introduced myself! My name is Urahara Kisuke, and I own this shop!" Urahara bowed dramatically, sweeping his striped hat off of his head for a moment, before placing it back on his head with extreme care. "I'm assuming that you'd like to stay here for awhile, at least while you get your bearings, yes? I'll get you enrolled in school, just tell me your grade and age and I'll get that all set up no problem, okay?" Kyo just started at him for a moment, dumbfounded. It was true that he hadn't really had a solid plan when he'd left the Sohma compound, but he hadn't had any hope that he'd find a place to stay within twenty-four hours. Especially not with such…_weird_ people.

"I…uh…" Kyo stuttered, trying to find his voice, "I'm seventeen…third year. How can you-"

"Alright then, Sohma Kyo, age seventeen," Urahara said, tipping his hat and making his way down the hall, rambling the entire way, "I'll just call up the school and get you all set up while Yoruichi fills you in on who we are. It's only fair that you know something about us if you're going to be staying here. Rukia will come pick you up in a about an hour, oh this is just wonderful!" Urahara trailed off, leaving a very overwhelmed Kyo alone with a finally clothed Yoruichi.

"Come sit, Sohma Kyo," she said, sitting down on the bed and motioning to the chair, "and I'll explain Soul Society to you."

---

Kagome woke abruptly to the sound of an unfamiliar alarm buzzing a bit closer to her ear than she might have liked. After resisting the urge to throw it across the room, she got herself up, and groggily wandered down the hall, searching for the bathroom.

"Second door on the left," she murmured to herself, "or was it the right?" Taking a gamble, she opened the door to the room on the right, only to find Ishida Uryuu in his pajamas, arms outstretched with the faint glowing outline of a bow in his hands. At Kagome's intrusion, the faint outline disappeared, and Ishida awkwardly adjusted his glasses.

"Sorry!" said Kagome, "I was looking for the bathroom, and-"

"Across the hall," Ishida said, turning away from her to smooth out the covers of his already perfectly made bed. Kagome stood in the doorway for a moment longer, both determined to make conversation between the two of them at least a little less stiff and awkward, and curious about the slight prick of power she felt from his bow.

"So…are you an archer?" she asked hopefully, "Because I am too, I mean, I'm pretty good with a bow and-"

"Yes," Ishida said stiffly, "I am an archer." Kagome shifted her feet a bit, and tried again.

"Are you a priest or a monk or something?" she asked, stepping into his room a little further, "Because your bow was made of-"

"You could see that? I mean…it was nothing." Ishida moved to his dresser and started to straighten out the objects on it, although they were already standing in perfectly straight lines.

"It was spiritual energy, wasn't it, Uryuu? So are you a priest?" Kagome smiled and moved even further into Ishida's bedroom. He adjusted his glasses.

"No, I am not a priest, Kagome," Ishida said, "I am a Quincy." He moved to his window and stood proudly, the sun reflecting off his glasses as he adjusted them again. He turned to face Kagome when she didn't say anything, to find a slightly confused expression on her face. Clearly, she had never heard of the Quincy.

"That's…cool, Uryuu. What are the Quincy, then?" Kagome smiled, pretending not to notice the slight droop in Ishida's features.

"You're a member of my family, you can see my bow, you're an archer, and you've never heard of the Quincy?" Kagome shook her head mutely and Ishida sighed. "Alright, I'll explain the proud history of the Quincy, then." Ishida sighed and motioned for Kagome to sit on his bed, wincing when she plopped down and mussed up his covers. He then launched into the tragic tale of the Quincys and their almost-extinction. When he had finally gotten though the whole history, including how he was the last Quincy, although his powers were not what they used to be, Kagome finally found a place to fit in a few words.

"Wow, really?" she said, "Archery is in my family, then? That makes a lot more sense now. I mean, my powers were partly because of Kikyo, but-"

"Powers?" Ishida interrupted, "What do you mean by that?" Kagome shifted uncomfortably. She'd moved to Karakura to start over and forget everything that had happened in the past, and her powers were something that she'd meant to leave behind. The familiar prickling of the power in her fingers never failed to bring to the front of her mind hundreds of images of fighting alongside Inuyasha and the others. She'd considered continuing with her archery as a hobby or something, but all of a sudden it hit her that if Ishida knew what she was capable of, she might actually have to _use_ her powers again. But he was looking at her so expectantly, and he'd just told her all about the Quincys, which he seemed to care a great deal about…

"I…I'm a miko," Kagome began, "I can't create a bow out of thin air like you can, but I can infuse arrows with spiritual energy and purify demons and stuff, but I don't do that anymore." She took a deep breath and started to back out of the room before Ishida could say anything. "Yeah, so I was kind of on my way to the bathroom, so I'm gonna go. School is soon, right? Well I'll see you when we walk to school, then, okay?" She made a swift exit, and closed herself in the bathroom to brush her teeth and get ready for school.

"Maybe I can just pretend that didn't happen," Kagome said to her reflection, frowning at herself in the mirror, and then frowning deeper when she realized that when she frowned she looked even more like Kikyo than usual. Forcing her face into a smile, she resolved to make her first day at school a good one, even if she had been reminded of the past before she'd even had a chance to brush her teeth. Dressing in her new school uniform (which thankfully wasn't another sailor fuku, she wasn't sure that she'd be able to deal with wearing that same uniform again), and prepared for a whole slew of awkward moments with Ishida on the way to school.

---

At first, Kuchiki Rukia reminded Kyo of Tohru's friend Uotani Arisa. Yoruichi had explained to Kyo that Rukia was a Shinigami, a concept which totally boggled Kyo's mind, but if he hadn't known that, upon meeting her Kyo would have thought she was a Yankee. She was very businesslike and uninterested in Kyo on the way to school, so he was quite disoriented when her demeanor completely changed when they reached the school.

She was suddenly…_sweet_. And _friendly_. It was a little bit creepy, after seeing her with Urahara and Yoruichi. She introduced him to all her friends, half of which were Shinigami in disguise, which he'd been told in confidence. There was a bit of an awkward moment between Kyo and Ichigo after half the class decided to point out that both of them had red hair, a sore spot for both of them. The two boys had both started yelling at the same time, causing the peanut gallery to whisper about the possibility that the two of them were long lost brothers or something. Eventually, Rukia ushered Kyo up to his own classroom, leaving him to fend for himself.

'_Here goes nothing,_' Kyo thought, stepping over the threshold into his classroom.

---

Kagome had been right about the walk to school being awkward. For the most part, Ishida didn't say anything at all. Several times he'd opened his mouth as if he'd wanted to say something, but one look at the reproachful look on Kagome's face quickly changed his mind.

Upon entering the school, Ishida quickly made to lead Kagome straight to her classroom, but he was stopped by a very voluptuous redheaded girl in the hallway.

"Ishida-kun!" she said happily, "Who's that? Is that your cousin Kagome-chan?"

"Yes," Ishida said, blushing almost imperceptively and adjusting his glasses, "Inoue-san, this is my cousin, Higurashi Kagome. Kagome, this is my - um - friend, Inoue Orihime." The two girls greeted each other happily before Ishida bade Orihime a quick goodbye, adjusting his glasses no less than three times in the process, and whisked Kagome off to her classroom.

"You _like_ her, don't you, _Ishida-kun_," Kagome whispered with a giggle.

"She likes someone else," he said stiffly, and started walking faster so that Kagome almost had to run to keep up. Conversation over.

'_Well, he's no fun at all,_' Kagome thought as they passed by a classroom full of very…lively students.

"This is my classroom," Ishida said coldly, "yours is around the corner, third one on the left. I trust you can make it there on your own?" Kagome nodded dumbly as a very tall student with spiky _red_ hair and a veritable plethora of tattoos barely covered by a bandana covering his forehead stepped out of the classroom and called to Ishida. Without a word he dragged Kagome a little further down the hall towards her classroom.

"Hey, what was that for?" Kagome asked, pulling her arm away from Ishida, "And who was that? Why didn't you introduce me?"

"That was Abarai Renji," Ishida explained, "and he is a Shinigami. There are several of them in my grade, and my father has forbidden me to speak to them so I'd prefer it if you didn't-"

"_Shinigami_! In our _school_?" Kagome said a little too loudly, causing Ishida to frantically shush her, "Are you serious? This has _got_ to be a dream. In fact, it reminds me of this one that I had once where Sesshoumaru was my math teacher-"

"Kagome, please just go to class," Ishida said, quickly making sure that none of the other students had noticed her outburst. Kagome nodded, and waved awkwardly to Ishida before making her way to her own classroom. 

With a deep breath, she stepped over the threshold only to feel a frighteningly familiar tingling in her spine.

'_Youki_'

She quickly scanned the room to find the source of the youki, and found it in a tall boy with flaming red hair leaning against the back wall of the classroom. Her mouth suddenly gone dry, Kagome licked her lips and slowly approached the boy.

"Um…hi," she said, her voice coming out a bit squeakier than she might have liked, "my name is Higurashi Kagome, and I'm a new student, and I was just wondering-"

"Sohma Kyo," the boy said, turning to her at the last possible second, a strange look in his eyes, "and I don't think I can help you out much, I'm new here too."

'_This girl…why? Why does she feel like a member of the Jyuunishi?_' Kyo thought, reading a slight confusion in her eyes, '_Who _is_ she?_'

"Alright! Settle down, class," the teacher suddenly interrupted, breaking the tense eye contact between the two, "Before we begin our lessons for the day I'd like to introduce two new students to our class, Sohma Kyo and Higurashi Kagome." The rest of the class turned around in their seats to size up the two new students, then turned back to the front as the teacher began to speak again. Kyo and Kagome quickly took their seats, stealing glances at one another before opening their notebooks and beginning to write down the math problem the teacher had begun to write on the chalkboard.

'_Who _is_ he,_' Kagome wondered, stealing another glance in his direction. When he didn't look up, she sighed, resolving to find out more about him after class.


End file.
